


Loptocolypse

by JugdralDefender



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: F/F, F/M, Lots of family relationships too and like basically every gen 2 character, M/M, Other, so no way in hell am I listing all of them because lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-03 12:24:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8713852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JugdralDefender/pseuds/JugdralDefender
Summary: The Lopt Sect has overrun Jugdral, and Celice's army isn't ready to fight their numbers. They had hoped the war was coming to a close, but they realize its end isn't nearby at all. The days will feel much longer than they really are...





	

**Author's Note:**

> I promise I love these characters but I really just felt the need to write something dark. Not sure I succeeded but hopefully this works because I have other plans. I have also not proofread this yet so my bad.

“Is everything clear out there?”

As soon as Skasaher and Johalva returned, Celice perked instantly and questioned them. They both nodded slowly, but they seemed rightfully wary.

Resting his sword against the wall, Skasaher shut the door behind him. “I don’t think they know we’re here. The whole area is desolate. Well, I guess if they did know they’d be attacking us by now.”

There were a few nervous glances, but for the most part, everyone seemed to be able to relax enough. A desolate area hopefully meant more time to prepare, but the coming war felt to be a long one. They had made it this far, and yet…

“It’s unfortunate we’re in Miletos, though.” Shanan sighed as Johalva threw his weight in a chair and rested his axe against the wall nearest him. “This place is the most densely populated with the Lopt Sect.”

“That’s exactly why they don’t think we’re a threat to them.” Levin pointed out, handing Oifaye a long list of their current supplies and weaponry. “This place is the most densely populated with their Sect. In a place with fewer of them in number, it would be much easier for us to retake the country. Moving the army here is much more dangerous. We either move the army and they wait for us, or we stay here and deplete our supplies until there’s no food left to survive. That’s what they’re counting on.”

“We have enough food to survive for a long enough period of time when you consider that if it’s desolate around here, we can gather food while there’s nobody else around… but if we wait too long, their goal will be achieved before we do anything. Waiting is the worse option… if not the worst.” Oifaye looked down the list, eventually shaking his head and placing it safely into a bag kept for essential information.

They had been sneaking around as much as they could, but their expressions were grim now. Only a few days had passed that they had stayed holed up in a small castle that seemed to hold no significance to the country, and most of them were not ready to leave this place. The few times anyone had, they hadn’t gone far. Particularly, they didn’t want to.

“Actually, speaking of moving forward…” Skasaher reached into his armor plate and pulled out a slip of parchment. “They left us a pretty awful note. Not to say it’s meant for _us_ specifically, but…” He walked over to Oifaye and handed him the note, moving back against the wall to lean beside his sword. As things were, he felt far more comfortable near a weapon whenever possible.

“They’re offering for people to seek them out and group with them?” Oifaye questioned as he read the information presented. “They’re offering for people to join them to keep their lives…”

“We found it near a pretty decent looking house.” Johalva commented. “I think they expected people to take refuge somewhere, so they put it somewhere that seemed like a feasible place for people to try to hide in. Like they expected people to hide there and find that note…”

Lester waved his hand and shook his head. “I give them credit for their effort, but after what they did around here, nobody’s gonna want to be with them. A lot of people won’t even want to save their own lives if it means betraying the people who were killed by those guys.”

Johalva shrugged, eyes unfocused as he stared at the floor. “Who knows… Some people are just really stupid. Stupid enough to fake it to save the lives of everyone else that matters to them who is still alive.”

Lakche and Skasaher shared a glance to each other then at Johalva, but they didn’t have to question him to recall what happened in Isaac when the uprising began. After Johan had pretended to seriously face him in battle, it wasn’t until he intentionally didn’t dodge a swing of his brother’s axe that Johalva realized what he was trying to do.

“But what are we going to do?” Delmud asked, passing a fruit bowl to his sister. “Obviously we’re not going to regard that note, but they have the upper hand against us in every possible way. If they really wanted to, they could run us out of here right now and kill as many of us as possible. If we assume staying here is ‘safe’, how do we know that’s not what they’re hoping we’ll expect?”

“We don’t know we won’t know unless it happens.” Shanan moved to begin cleaning the papers on the table that were sprawled around it - plans, maps, calculations, and everything they could attempt to figure into their situation scattered along the table. “Either way, it’ll be too late if we stay here and too dangerous if we move forward. But… staying here is pretty much going to guarantee us all the worst results.”

“We can’t get help from other countries?” Arthur questioned, glancing at Tinny and back to the adults. For a while, the girl had been hoping Ishtar would do something to support them, but the last time they had met was in Manster. Arthur personally didn’t believe there would be any help, but watching his sister juggle the idea in her head daily was becoming upsetting.

“The other countries don’t seem to be in a much better position.” Oifaye had also considered it, but ultimately the answer was an almost definite no. “Actually, Miletos is in the best situation because we’re here. Most places don’t have the proper fighting force to deal with this.”

“We’ve fought the Lopt mages before though, back in Yied…” Celice pointed out, attempting to at least suppress the memories of frightening dark magic looked. “We have some experience, and Leaf had been dealing with them a while back, in his own war.”

“They also have the Freeges, Thracians, and various others on their side.” Celice’s hopeful consideration was quickly left vacant by Levin’s answer. “They have various holy weapons on their side as well, so if they really wanted to match us, they could.”

Altenna gripped the arm of the chair she leaned against. “I don’t think… I could get through to Arion right now. The last time I saw him, he looked so stressed out, and then Prince Yurius took him away… Who knows what kind of ideas the Sect has tried to plant in his mind?”

Hannibal sighed at the thought. All he could hope for was that the prince would not end up like the king. “If we’re going to potentially be dealing with others outside the Sect, we need to prepare our best weapons. I’d prefer nothing got left behind once we have to move, as weapons are scarce to come by at all right now, but our options of what to carry might become limited.”

There was silence that followed. Many of them eyed their own weapons, not wishing to part with anything. Many of them were holding onto weapons their parents once held, and they had already lost that much. Losing the mementos was just too much now.

As the silence managed to get the better of them, Leaf poked out around the frame of the doorless entrance to the room. “Dinner is ready… I think you should all eat before we think about this more.”

“How are our food supplies doing with this food out of the picture?” Levin asked as he gathered the now arranged group of papers.

“With what I just made, there won’t be enough for seconds of this… We can hold on for another two days without going out to get anything, but we have to either get out of here or gather enough food for everyone within that time…”

“I’ll check what we have left. The rest of you go to dinner.”

Leaf nodded and looked over at the others, indicating they should respond accordingly. It took a moment for people to start getting up, and Leaf waited for most of them to leave the room before following quietly at Celice’s side.

Levin paused, looking over at Sety who hadn’t moved. Eventually Sety noticed the stare, a light sigh let out as he got up and moved to the table the papers were previously on, waiting for them to be handed to them.

“You skipped out on the last two meals. Go with them.”

“I can take dinner with me while I take part of that workload. It’s better I’m thinking of something that isn’t what’s outside. Most of them seemed to have fought dark mages before… but I’ve seen worse than any of them have save for Prince Leaf. You can’t finish all that by yourself tonight anyway. Just give me part of it and I’ll take it to my room.”

“You’re relentless…” It was Levin’s turn to sigh as he flipped through the pages, locating what Sety usually invested his time into and hanging him the pages. “Are you sure you don’t do this to avoid sitting with everyone? You’re hardly ever with a group that large.”

Sety shrugged, taking the papers and moving to the entrance of the room before heading out. “You don’t stick around with them either.”

-

“Two of them… That’s as perfect as we’re gonna get.” Faval commented as he kept himself as well hidden behind the greenery as manageable. With that, he positioned himself and readied his bow, having avoided taking Ichival with him just in case it roughly signaled where the army was located presently.

“We’re not gonna get this lucky every time though.” Lester added, aiming as well with lack of any particular bow that possessed a particular name. His hands almost felt empty without his killer or hero bow, but they both knew they had to make do like this. Weapon repairs would be ungodly expenses right now, and it wasn’t unlikely some of them would have to start getting their comrades to repair their weapons for them if they couldn’t. Special weapons would simply be that much more costly, and those costs could very well be their lives if they could no longer afford the more important things.

“You good? We need to get these guys at the exact same time or there’s gonna be trouble.”

“Yeah… I can’t shoot as fast with this, but I should be able to manage.”

Faval waited a moment, eying Lester again before the two nodded to each other to signal themselves, loosing their arrows with every bit the sinking feeling in their guts. It was probably the best thing they’d seen in quite a while when both their arrows connected to their targets without issue.

“They’re getting carefree. They must think they’ve got this won so there’s no reason to be worried about us. Bastards.” Lester groaned as he pushed himself up back onto his feet properly, extending a hand to Faval to help him up.

“Eh. If they want to let us pluck them off bit by bit, I have no problem with that. Evening can be a bad time for it though because of the way the sun is positioned. If it’s in our way, our aim could get thrown off. If they realize that and start wandering around out here when our chances of success are even lower, we’re going to start having an even worse time. We don’t have the luxury of wandering around looking for a good place to shoot from…”

“Yeah… But they were here at all, even though they weren’t here earlier when Skasaher and Johalva were scouting. Do you think they wander around at night? If that’s the case, we’re not safe at all when everyone’s sleeping.”

Faval signaled for him to follow, deciding it was best to start heading back. Indeed, if they were roaming in the evening, they were probably out at night, and the thought made his stomach practically sink. Getting back to tell the others was important, but he felt impatience now. “We’ll have to make sure Johalva’s out in the daytime then. His skill with a bow won’t be of as much use as ours if the day isn’t on his side.”

“Why haven’t we gotten Leaf out? His skill with a bow is hardly less than ours if it is at all.”

“Well… his job is mostly the chores, and he took that on himself. He’s trying to help in a different way, so we all have less worries when we get back. I just wish he’d stop skipping meals so there’s enough food for the rest of us…”

“...Does Lord Celice know about that?”

“Nah… but once he finds out Prince Leaf’s gonna be eating for a day straight.”

“Ahaha… That’s probably the most relieving thing I’ve heard in the past week or so…”

-

Setting down a stack of gathered information, Oifaye’s attention turned to the door that creaked as Shanan entered. There was a moment of silence that Shanan expected, and Oifaye turned his head back to the desk before him, keeping his eyes on it instead of the prince. “You went out there again, didn’t you? Without telling anyone.”

Shanan stopped where he was, standing there for a moment in thought, then approached the window and waited briefly as he watched the outside before closing the curtain. “The kids can’t do everything themselves. Not all day and night.”

“Lord Sigurd wouldn’t have condoned you going out there by yourself in this the situation we’re all in.”

“No… he wouldn’t have. But he would’ve gone out there by himself, instead.”

An odd silence followed, and eventually Oifaye’s hand closed into a fist against the desk. “...This isn’t the kind of thing they can handle. If Lord Sigurd’s allies are still out there, any of them, how long do you think it will take for them to approach us? To find us?”

“It depends how far away they are right at this time, doesn’t it?” Despite the curtain having been closed, Shanan hadn’t moved away from the window. “If they’re nowhere near Miletos, they’d have to really speed things up to catch up to us. We can’t just stay here forever. The longer we wait here… the closer the Lopt Sect is to their goal. The goal Sigurd died for. That’s what they’re hoping for, isn’t it? To scare us away and make us stay in hiding then come after us when we have no chance of winning.”

It was better that Shanan _did_ go out, and Oifaye understood that. Perhaps if it didn’t seem like he would try to prevent his companion from doing so, Shanan wouldn’t have to leave without a word to anyone. The children were understandable - they would panic if he mentioned going out alone. With Balmung at his side, Oifaye could believe he would be safe, and truthfully, there was a mere handful of people who might be able to survive if ever surrounded by dark magic users. Fortunately, Shanan was one of the ones with the absolute best chance of that.

“We’re the adults here now though, Oifaye…” This time, Oifaye looked over at him, a somber expression trying not poke its way through. “We can’t let what happened to Sigurd and everyone else… happen to their children too. The difference now is that they’re not even trying to hide themselves anymore. The kids are probably in even more danger than they were.”

Oifaye let out a sigh after a few seconds, moving to Shanan and resting a hand on the back of his shoulder. “Get some rest. We’ll think more about this tomorrow. It’s exhausting enough just being out there. You’ll wake up too tired in the morning.”

Shanan straightened after Oifaye spoke. He was right… and if the kids saw the adults stressing, it would only give them more reason to stress. “Yeah…”

-

“You’re still up?” Levin stood in the doorway to the room Sety had remained in since earlier that day, and as Sety turned to blink almost mindlessly at him, it was enough to tell Levin that he was too exhausted to think about the paperwork in front of him further. “You don’t eat right, you don’t sleep right… How do you expect to handle a fight if we’re attacked? Go to bed.”

Sety waited, no reason apparent to either of them, but he eventually looked away and leaned back. “Have you considered the possibility of torture with those guys? That note from earlier… They wouldn’t just shelter someone. They might do it if they got answers… but I also can’t help thinking they intentionally left that note there for us to find. If I don’t figure something out, I won’t be able to sleep anyway.”

Levin paused to look at the work completed on the desk, deciding Sety must not have been working on it in the past hour or so if he was this tired and lost in thought. The thoroughness of the information didn’t indicate tiredness at all when it was worked on, but such thoughts must have caused him exhaustion much quicker. “Their job will be no doubt easier if they have more holy bloods on their side. They have Prince Arion now on top of everyone else they already had… and several of them are major bloods. They’ll be looking to target anyone with a weak mind who will fall for salvation.”

“How is anything they do salvation…?” The tone was annoyance and tiredness, but Levin could hear in his voice that the aggravation was directed to the Lopt Sect. Perhaps he should have asked what Sety had known about them prior to joining this army, but he had always pulled back when one-on-one discussions were possible with him. It hadn’t quite been detrimental to the army to not have that information, but it no doubt could have been a mistake to hold off this long on it.

“To a person who is too afraid to accept the reality they’ve brought upon us it is. If they aren’t targeted anymore, they’ll feel safe. Sooner or later, people will get tired of fearing for their lives. People with that kind of power can control any number of people with fear.”

“They’ve probably… tested that by now.”

“Torture?”

“That’s what I would think. But what’s most uncomfortable about it is that it’s us they’re trying to target this time. If they knew it wouldn’t work, they wouldn’t try it. Realistically, if the entire Sect ganged up on us right now, with us here… I don’t think we could win.”

“The sacrifices on their end probably aren’t worth that effort. You alone could wipe out a good amount of them. They’re likely waiting it out now, hoping to drag along as many of people here as they can.”

Sety’s eyes switched to the fire atop the candle that sat nearby on the desk. After a moment of staring at the small flame, he realized his thoughts had wandered again. “Emperor Alvis…”

“What about him?”

“...Is he really supporting the Sect?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’ve heard that Emperor Alvis punished the men who killed my grandmother when the Empire took over Silesia. For a long time after that, the Sect didn’t even seem to have any power. It really hasn’t been that long since they’ve had this much power. The child hunts weren’t as chaotic before either. Doesn’t it seem like they’re overthrowing him in power? Besides that, there have been stories about how much that man loved his wife, who was also Lord Celice’s mother. Do you really think he could kill the child of the person he loved? It’s as if… the Emperor isn’t on their side at all.”

After a moment of hesitation, Levin’s hands moved to the other’s shoulders, gripping them to make sure he had Sety’s attention. “You think too much when you’re tired. Go to sleep. We’ll talk about this later. It’s not at all that you’re wrong… but perhaps too correct. People outside of Silesia wouldn’t ordinarily know about that, since my mother was allowed a proper burial because of the emperor. I need you properly awake to go over something like this at length.”

At Sety’s hesitance, he waited another moment and sighed lightly, hands gripping his shoulders slightly more tightly for a mere second before letting go. “That’s an order from your father. Go to bed.”

Tired eyes focused again, and while Sety wanted to remark that Levin had said before that he “had no children”, he really was too exhausted to start a useless squabble right now. Levin could tell he had at least gotten Sety’s attention, which had been perhaps a plus in all of this mess. _That acknowledgement was enough for tonight._

-

Checking the cupboards, Skasaher leaned back slightly with a look of disappointment. “I can’t believe we really went through all that storage food in the castle in that short a period of time…”

“We have to feed an entire army. It’s not surprising… But I mean, I’ve gone hungry plenty of times as a kid.” Arthur leaned over the table with cloth in hand to reach the other side whilst cleaning. It was a bit odd for him, having cleaning duties, but he was aware everyone was pulling their own weight somehow, rotating in their jobs. It was all they could do until they moved from here… “If you guys need to go more sparse on food, there are at least a few of us who know how to eat enough just to survive.”

Lakche shook her head at the comment, covering up the saved food to keep good as long as possible. “Then what if we get attacked? You’re all hungry and can’t even fight. That’s why we have a team out there right now trying to secure what they can.”

“We’ll have to start moving again soon too.” Lana carried a group of dishes over to Leen and Corpul, heading back to do the same again. “We haven’t left here since it was so dangerous and the whole thing was so shocking, but none of us expected Miletos to be this bad.”

“At first, we thought it was just the child hunts… but apparently under Hilda’s rule here, those were exceptionally bad.” Leen found herself staring for a moment before she shook away the thoughts. When they had arrived here, things were relatively okay, but as they closed in on Chronos, they had realized just how awfully those child hunts had been handled. She could still hear the children screaming for their parents, and parents screaming for their children… It was at such a time that she would realize she may have been lucky to never know her parents.

“Um…” Celice poked his head around the corner, gaining the attention of his comrades. “Could you guys come with me for a bit? There’s something that has to be discussed. Corpul and Leen, you guys are fine.”

There were a few responsive nods, and each person finished up their task mildly to hurry over. They weren’t surprised to see the adults in various areas of the room they stepped into, seeming to be in thought about whatever they were all gathered for.

“So…” Shanan started, looking ahead rather than at the others. “Our path is blocked. The scouts we had out earlier came back informing us that we’re basically trapped.”

“There are dark mages in front of us _and_ behind us?” The last time Altenna had scouted, they could have gone back toward Thracia had they really actually wanted or tried to. There had been way a backward - even if not always forward.

“They’re trying to close in on us. The only thing we can do right now is storm one of their locations on our way ahead. Besides… we have to get Rados. There shouldn’t have even been a location between us and Rados, but those guys have been sneaky.”

“So... “ Celice sighed as he gave his attention to the people who had entered late. “We need to send a team for this. I was against it when they first mentioned it, because it’s going to be a lot more dangerous than even our last fight… but we don’t really have a choice anymore.”

“Is it because we waited too long?” Delmud questioned with a hint of already having some assurance on the answer.

“It’s pretty likely.” Shanan heaved out as he leaned back in his chair at a table at the closed curtain window. “We couldn’t move ahead, and there was no point in moving back… and now they’ve got us surrounded. For the time being, we’re going to send Skasaher, Lana, Aless, Nanna, Arthur and Faval. I don’t want to cut us back too much in case something does happen, but heading right into enemy territory does require a couple major bloods and healers. Arthur, we need you to have their backs with your magic - all of their backs.”

Six people wasn’t that many to cover for, but against these enemies, Arthur could only nod to hide the apprehension. But then, he also understood too many of them would get them caught, and it felt like an endlessly difficult situation. If only the _Lopt Sect_ wasn’t so difficult itself.

“You’re going tomorrow in the evening.” Levin continued, noting Shanan’s exhaustion. “Skasaher, Shanan has recommend you as the team leader. Do you have objections?”

Skasaher paused, blinking at first, a lack of initial response out of surprise as he looked toward Shanan before looking back at Levin. “If… Lord Shanan requests that I lead, I will.” He wasn’t about to question it, and on some level he did understand Shanan’s reasoning without needing to hear it. The role of leader was a burden to many, however, and he himself was unsure he could handle that role efficiently.

_But he had to._

-

“How long have they been building a place like this?” Skasaher groaned as he forced open a particular _heavy_ door with Aless’ help, as quietly as manageable.

“Long enough that they don’t have to hide here anymore.” Arthur grimaced as he stepped to the side to allow the girls in first before following.

“It’s probably a midway base of sorts.” Aless commented, noting a stairway that was hardly visible to the eye in such darkness. “They’ve been capturing the children in Miletos, and if they’re transporting them… they’ll need a place to unload them if they can’t reach Rados over the course of the day. ...Watch your step, by the way. Some of this floor is uneven.”

“I don’t doubt they were preparing for intruders.” Nanna carefully looked toward the floors and walls, pausing behind Aless as the group stopped behind Skasaher.

Creaking the door open lightly, Skasaher eyed the room, checking every corner with the fire and candlelight present within. “Speaking of....” Keeping a hand on the door, he turned to look back at those following him. “Are you guys okay going in there with me? There are probably traps in there. If one of them goes off, they’ll probably be alerted by the noise. Wherever we are right now and whatever is beyond there is important enough that they don’t want outsiders entering.”

“We have to get something useful out of this.” Lana insisted, though the girl was grateful it would be hard to see her light nervous shaking. If they came here and left empty-handed, they’d risked their lives for nothing. “Nanna and I are here for a reason. If you’re hurt… you’ll need us there.”

“And if either of you get hurt, our chances of getting back out of here alive are much more slim.” Only Aless’ eyes had their attention on Lana, his body still turned in Skasaher’s direction while refusing to drop his guard. This wasn’t like with Jabarro… This wasn’t that kind of surrounded or chased after. They were simple mercenaries, and they were _nothing_ compared to the men who resided here.

“...But if there’s something important there, we should chance it. These guys are overconfident. They wouldn’t bother to guard something unless it really held value. If things look bad though, Lana, Nanna… both of you are to go back with Prince Aless. Faval and I will keep going.” The girls nodded to Skasaher, and he himself couldn’t help taking a small breath before further opening the door.

High tension to begin with had simply made them each paranoid, and it was grating to hear the sound of their steps seeming amplified. The stopping to check for traps was also irritating, as it left them all on high alert each time something appeared out of place. The room was large, to boot, giving them far more to get through… and that much more to get back from.

But that didn’t stop them, and the idea of being able to move forward to get closer to ending the war was motivation enough. Even as they slid into thin areas of the room, areas that they could _hardly_ move through, they pressed on and pushed away their anxiety as best they knew how. Still, as they got farther into the room, eventually reaching the next door, Skasaher opened it to see nothing but darkness. Walking through there would have surely been their death sentence, and Aless and Faval each grabbed a torch from the room they were already in, Faval handing one to Skasaher.

The walk wasn’t particularly long, but it felt far _longer_. At first, they had all thought even the slightest sound would distract them, but a few steps out of the formed line and Lana’s screech was heard to all of them. Instinctively, Faval moved to grab for her, but he could only manage to grab hold the very top of her hand, just before his eyes landed on exactly what she’d fallen into.

“They have those kind of traps here?!” He looked on horrified, noticing the spikes and spears, but what was worse was looking downward from there. There was nothing. Nothing he could see. Were there spikes all the way down? How long was the fall? He hadn’t noticed his breathing increasing slightly, the realization that multiple areas must have looked like this one. If they’d fallen into any other traps…

He was startled back to reality when he felt Lana’s weight, the girl trying to pull herself more into Faval’s grasp to make it easier to be pulled out, but both of them heard the spear she was using as leverage snap. The lack of anything underneath her foot left the weight too much for Faval to hold on when it was merely the tip of her hand he’d been able to secure, and he paused then. Perhaps they could find her in they searched lower levels, but where were the lower levels?

Eventually, he couldn’t even hear her anymore. The wait was long; the long to hear anything at all from her again. Another strained silence, and it felt like everything around else had gone as black as the darkness outside their torch light. Outside the noise of the light torch fires, nothing else was heard to his ears. No matter how much he strained and waited, the wait just _went on._ Finally he rose, turning to the others, but they each looked as bothered as he did. His voice finally managed to choke out, trying to get his mind off the _rest_ of his worries aside from what he just saw. “We… need to keep going. Just like she said… ...No… If we don’t even make it back out…”

“If we go back now… I’m sure there are plenty of traps waiting that way too.” Skasaher lightly bit his lip, but he quickly turned to head forward. “This was dangerous to begin with… but… if we leave now… we lost track of her for nothing. ...And if we go forward, we can’t guarantee any of us will make it back.” It fell on his shoulders, didn’t it? All of this? Was this what it meant to be a leader? To lead people to their potential deaths? Even if they couldn’t confirm Lana’s death, it was _still possible._ If he made it out, he wouldn’t even be able to _look_ at Lester!

“...Go forward. The best thing we can do right now is find somewhere to hide. I’m hearing something behind us.” Aless urged, noting the instruction was not unheard to the Isaacian as he straightened. No words were spoken in reply, but he moved forward. Faval gave hesitation, but his feet finally forced him ahead. _Another long walk that wasn’t nearly as long as they gave it credit for._

Not even minutes after, giving them no time to recover, the ground below their feet felt _hollow._ A single misstep on Faval’s part had the area give out, as if that hallway was _made_ that way. As if… the members of the sect that resided here knew the way to go to avoid this. They had made it intentionally, and that was realized all too quickly as the team was forced to grab onto each other on the way down.

“Where is Nanna?!” Skasaher called down with a grunt, feeling the weight of Aless’ grip below him. It would have been a bit easier to make it through this if he had been at the top, but the order they fell in seemed to be the order they had been lined up. _Unfortunate._

“She’s… below me!” Faval called back, grip on Aless tightening.

“Nanna… Can you… pull yourself up? Can you slide your way up somehow?” It was hard to speak and hold onto the only safe spot so thoroughly, and Skasaher’s words had come out in angered breaths. How could he be screwing up so much?! No… They hadn’t even been prepared for this to begin with.

“I don’t know... “ Her answer was absolute nervousness, the memory of the last she saw of Lana coming to the front of her mind. She didn’t know where to look - up or down. Down was the same pitch blackness she’d saw when Lana had fallen, and above her was far too much distance to safety. As if she would definitely fall…

Slowly, she started moving upward, but eventually grabbed onto Faval and stopped. She vaguely heard a “what’s wrong?” from the blond she held onto, and it took a moment for the words to even register. As soon as she realized she had been spoken to, she returned her attention to where it needed to be, attempting a more firm grip and apologizing before moving again. She had made it to Arthur before she heard Skasaher, though unintentionally, yell down a “hurry up!”. She understood - he wasn’t trying to be rude to her at all, but he could only hold on so long with this weight.

“What do you guys want to do? I don’t think Nanna’s going to make up in time!” Faval shouted upward. “I can let go if you need me to!”

“I don’t want _anyone_ letting go!” Skasaher yelled back, but his muscles weren’t particularly fond of that answer. “We have _no_ idea what’s down there!” After Nanna had made it far up enough to face Aless, Skasaher groaned much louder this time at the added weight so close to him. “Guys… I really don’t think…”

“I’m letting go!” Faval shouted to Skasaher, and before he could shout not to, he froze as a chunk of weight dropped off, but that moment made Nanna hold back a scream as she forced her way up toward Skasaher, heart beating harder than she could remember it having ever despite the many times she, her father and Leaf had been in horrifying immediate danger.

Upon making it up hurriedly, she looked down and waited as she saw Arthur begin to move, slowly making his way up toward her. Another grunt was heard from Skasaher, and Nanna quickly leaned over to keep hold on Skasaher’s arms as Aless made his way up after the mage. Backing up, she gave him room, and the remaining blond finally got his knees back on the ground. Turning, he could see Skasaher wasn’t ready to move despite the severe shaking in his arm, and the Agustrian groaned as he grabbed onto the other’s arms and started pulling him upward. Eventually, Skasaher went with it, helping Aless’ efforts and getting back up.

His breathing was heavier than the blonds’, and the torches that rested on the ground now were the only light they had to see how horribly he was trembling. If this was his first task as a leader… this would _scar_ him.

Looking up, he stopped in the heavy level of breathing, though the trembling remained. It took a moment, but the other two looked behind them, each pair of eyes landing on sect members. Rushing over to grab one of the torches, Aless checked around the area, head looking in any direction for an exit. Eventually, his eyes were met with one, but it seemed to be the entrance the dark mages had come through. Gritting his teeth, he made sure to keep eying for an exit, noting the dark mages appeared all too smug to care.

“We thought we heard something and took the detour from the right path… but we didn’t think major bloods were foolish enough to bust in here.”

Shakily, Nanna picked up the other torch, noticing the third one seemed to be gone. It had fallen…?

The girl moved to Aless’ side, but they and Arthur froze when they heard the words from their companion behind them, his voice quiet enough that only the two of them would be able to make out the words. “You two go. Aless is more important than I am. Go to your right and make it look like you’re about it swing at one of those guys. Run through the entrance on that side. I can just barely see it through the torch light… but it’s your only chance of getting out of here… even if we have no idea where it leads.”

And the fact was, none of them had expected this place to be like this. Not this dark… and not this well equipped for a country their men already had full control of. The remaining three were about to protest, but Skasaher looked up at them as he pulled his own sword out from behind him. “Just _do_ it.”

They were the leader’s orders, and they could tell those words were final. As Skasaher took the quieted chance to rush the enemy, Aless complied with the demand, following his lead with Mistoltin in hand. As if to make it seem like she was not about to attack, Nanna and Arthur waited before following after Aless, moving faster to catch up and eventually making pace with him before the three rounded the corner, Skasaher continuing the assault while the mages were distracted at the direction the other two had gone in.

None of them had any doubt the other two felt awful about it as their heads and hearts were pounding, and though a door barricaded the way again, Aless wasn’t about to calmly stop and open it and check for safety. There was no time, and it was dangerous either way. Slamming the door down with his sword, he grabbed Nanna’s wrist and led her through, the edge of his sword sooner than later pulling at something before the feeling was gone. Aless grunted as various sharp pains shot through the bottoms of his legs, but he kept moving, grip on Nanna’s wrist unintentionally tightening.

After pounding through another door, they finally stopped. Normally, Aless was sure he would have just run the enemy right through, but shock stopped him.

“I was sure… you were done for…”

His eyes landed on Jabarro, a low growl forming in his throat. The man was seriously alive? There wasn’t time to consider the reasons why, and a laugh from the man had Aless letting go of Nanna and charging at the mercenary. As several mercenaries around him moved forward, Aless stopped in his intention to assault Jabarro, realizing the men had gone around him and toward Nanna and Arthur. Rushing back even more quickly, he swung his sword through the side of one of the mercenaries’ heads, ignoring the thud of the body and taking the chance of the others backing off to grab the girl’s wrist again, also signal enough for Arthur to move with them as the Freege shot bouts of magic at the attackers to ward them off, forcing their way through.

Or, at least, they would try to.

-

“It’s been a long time... “ Leen noted as she softly checked behind the curtains, eyes met with only the pouring rain outside. “It’s already so late…”

Delmud sat across from her at the same table, nodding slowly as he too gazed outside. Oddly enough, cloudy, rainy weather seemed perfect for the situation they’d all found themselves in.

“Thankfully…” Oifaye looked over a paper in his hand, noting the new information on it. “We were able to secure enough food from the others who went out today. We’ll be able to move out with this much, and we should make it to Rados if we’re careful with our food supply. There will be more food stored in the castle… and we’ll need to take what we can to go on.”

“But the way from Rados Castle to Miletos Castle is a long one.” Levin reminded him. “In fact, it’ll take some time to even get to the gate from there. We’ll need to pass a forest as well before we advance on Miletos Castle. We may have to cut back even more between that time.”

“Some people aren’t going to make it…” Fin said in a low voice, soon after hearing banging on the door that grabbed his attention. Hearing a loud, rough sounding “open the door!” from a voice he could make out to be Aless’, Fin rushed to the door and flung it open, seeing both Aless and Nanna hardly able to stay on their feet, Nanna leaning on Aless for support, with Arthur trailing closely behind.

Delmud and Leen were quickly on their feet, chairs swinging back at the force of their movements. Delmud stepped back from the table, taking note of the injuries. “What the hell _happened_ to you two?!” Before he could move, Fin had ushered them into the room, slamming the door shut and barring it tightly.

“We lost… the others… I don’t know if they’re alive or not.” Aless hissed out, feeling Nanna pull away from him and trying to catch her breath. “We ran here without stopping for more than a minute.”

“The Lopt Sect…” Nanna started, placing a hand to her chest as if to adjust her breathing. “It was as if they made that place to catch enemies. We don’t know if there was anything there we needed to know. Before we could get that far… we started losing everyone, and then the dark mages found us…”

Fin felt a stinging he could define as rage spark in his chest, but he knew to place his priorities elsewhere. “For now, change your clothes. You’re both soaked. You can talk to me about it after, Nanna… Take a minute to calm down.”

She nodded before answering. “...It’s… I… You’re right here with me now, Father… I really just… need a minute…”

As the commotion seemed to stir the notice of others, Lakche found herself running in, stopping at the entrance way and staring aghast at Aless, head switching to Nanna and back to Aless while taking in the state they were in. “...Where is Skasaher? Why is there so much commotion?”

Aless couldn’t find words for her, instead merely staring back at her with a lack of emotion visible in his eyes, hardly noticing the rain that dripped off his hair and clothes.

“He told us to run away... “ Nanna answered finally, clinging to Fin whilst shivering. “Dark mages found us, and we’d just lost Faval to some trap… There was no time to do anything but listen to him… I… Lakche… I didn’t mean to… I didn’t want to… just leave him…”

Lakche looked back in disbelief toward Aless, a rage she couldn’t control quickly bubbling up. “You have stronger holy blood than my brother and you couldn’t help him?! You’re one of the supposed Crusaders of this era and you left my brother there?!”

“I’m sorry, Lakche… We… We didn’t know what to do…” Lakche stopped as she realized Nanna was shaking, this time from sobs trying to hide themselves more than the fear the and the cold.

Looking back at Aless, seeing him almost as if Arthur wasn't there behind him, her heart sinking still, she looked apologetic, but her eyes seemed to feel hot as well. “I’m sorry… ...I’m sorry… Mother never came back… and I don’t even know my father’s face either… When I think of the idea that my brother might be lost to me too…”

Aless shook his head, an unspoken implication that the apology wasn’t necessary. Still, Lakche moved with a weakened feeling in her legs, quickly feeling lightheaded, putting her arms around Nanna’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, Nanna… That wasn’t right of me to yell at him or scare you… Let’s… get you changed… You don’t want to stay in those clothes like this.”

As the girls walked out with Fin, they moved out of the room without noticing Patty against the wall on the other side, holding back her own breaths, a hand on her chest as she attempted to calm herself.

_Faval… didn’t come back…_

She was good at finding her way through dark, dangerous locations… but this place seemed far out of her league, and even sending two major bloods had not been enough.

But if Faval hadn’t come back, and under the circumstance he was still alive… where was he and what was _**happening?**_


End file.
